The owner of a typical single-family home in Arlington will have to pony up an eye-popping $12,650 in taxes and fees for local-government services in the coming year, up about 4 percent and another in a string of all-time highs, under the $1.55 billion fiscal 2024 budget adopted April 22 by Arlington County Board members.
The budget, adopted 5-0 and based on a recommendation from County Manager Mark Schwartz, includes no reduction to the 2023 real-estate tax rate of $1.03 per $100 assessed valuation, even though most county homeowners got hit with higher assessments to ring in the new year.
Unlike leaders in other local jurisdictions, Arlington board members have been steadfast in refusing to lower real-estate tax rates during the pandemic era, even as home prices skyrocketed and homeowners were forced to dig deeper under the cushions for the cash to fund government operations.
The $12,650 figure for a typical household’s tax burden is a GazetteLeader estimate of the costs associated with ownership of a single-family home valued at $1 million, and includes real-estate taxes (with stormwater fees included), vehicle taxes, water/sewer fees, refuse-collection fees and utility taxes. The county government releases its own tax-burden estimates based on the overall assessed valuation of residential property, which includes condominiums and townhouses as well as single-family homes, and clocks in for the upcoming year at about $10,600.
Refuse/recycling costs for households are slated to rise 33 percent to $409, owing to new contracts that are significantly more pricey than before, Schwartz said.
With the tax rate now approved, the county treasurer’s office will begin mailing out first-half bills to property owners, which will be due in June. Second-half bills are due in October, as is the car tax.
